Method and means for coloring and coating wires and the like



Jan. 23, 19.34. I N. c. LAMONT- v Q 4 3 METHOD AND MEANS' FOR COLORINGAND COATING WIRES AND THE LIKE I INVENTOR Z6 BY ATTORNEYS Jan. 23, 1934.N. CILAMONT 4 1#944,823

METHOD AND MEANS FOR QOLORING AND COATING WIRES AND THE LIKE FiledOct.2a, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.3. F11

- ATTORNEYS 1, fiwvflwfw Jan. 23, 1934. LAMONT 1,944,823

ma'raon AND mums FOR COLORING AND comma wnws AND THE LIKE I Filed Oct.28, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet :5

INVENTOR BY ATTORNEYS Jan. 23, 1934. y N, c, LAMONT METHOD AND MEANS FORC OLORING AND COATING WIRES ANDTHE LIKE Filed 001;. 28, v193.0 4Sheets-Sheet BY fig ATTORNEY? Awf l fray/7W Patented Jan. 23, 1934METHOD AND MEANS FOR COLORING AND COATING WIRES AND THE LIKE Neil C.Lamont,

, Pa.,.assignor to Edgeworth National Electric Products Corporation, NewYork, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application mm :8, mo. Serial No.491,196

new. (0!. 9.1-)

This invention'relates to a method and a ma-' chine for coloringinsulating wire and the like and thereafter coating it with a thincoating of wax-like material such as paraflin.

The invention will be described with reference to the making of certaintypes (it insulated wires, although it will be understood that themachine and the stepspf the method which are employed may be used in themaking of other articles where similar problems arise. 1

One desirable form of insulated wire include a braided covering whichmay serve as a wrapping for other interior insulation. Such braiding maybe directly colored orit may be first impregl6 nated with animpregnating material such as steal-in pitch or some similar fiameretardent compound and after it is impregnated it'may be colored.

In some cases the impregnated braided covering is first dusted with micaor alike powdery material before the color is applied. Over the colorcoating it is'desirable to provide a thin supercoating of a wax-likematerial to provide a slick or non-stick outerfinish. In other cases thezo'impregnated wire is directly'covered with the wax-like super-coating,the intermediate color coat being omitted.

In the manufacture of insulated wires of the kind described above, ithas been found that the wax-like material of the finish coat may tend toexcessively blend or merge with the underlying coatings and with theimpregnating compound. When colors are used, [this blending tends todestroy the .brilliancy of the color coating and produce a wire having amuddy or fiat appearance. This blending and'merging is extremely liableto occur if the final waxing step be carried out by dipping thepreviously impregnated wire in a bath of molten wax so that the heat 40out the bath would tend to remelt the underlying material. Suchundesired blending or merging also tends to occur if excessivequantities of molten wax were applied in any way to the insulated wire.The application of excessive quantities of wax over a color coating isalso undesirable. Ac-

cordingly, with various kinds of insulated wires it is ade'sideratum toapply a regulated and desired minimum quantity of wax and to also applythe wax in such manner'that the wax does not successively blend of mergewith underlying material and to further apply this wax-like material insuch a way that the use of supplementary scrapers or. wiping dies or thelike to'remove excessive wax may be dispensed with. It is furtherdesirable that the steps of color coating of the wire andafterwardscoatingit with wax may be carried out in onecontinuousprocess, a color coating being first applied and the wax-like materialbeing subsequently. applied in the proper manner to secure the desiredfinal 6i product.

The present invention has for one. of its objects the provision of .anovel method and machine for applying one or more colorcoats toinsulated wires or like articles and for thereafter applying over suchcoloring a thin'wax-like covering.

Another object of the'present invention resides in the provision of anovel method and machine for applying super-coats of wax-like materialin such a way that the object being coated will not come in contact withan excessive quantity of heated wax-like material and also in theprovision of a method in which regulated quantities of the super-coatingmay be applied.

A further object of the present invention resides in the provision of amethod and machine for applying wax-like material to articles to becoated with a thin super-coating of wax-'-likematerlal and in which suchmaterial is applied to'the article in the form of a mist.

Further and other objects of the present invention will be hereinafterset forth in the accompanying specification and claims andshown in thedrawings which by way of illustration show preferred embodimentsof theapparatus adaptable for carrying out the novel method.

In the drawings:

Figure I shows somewhat diagrammatically the steps of the methodbeginning with the'un- 9o colored wire, carrying the wire through thecoloring step or steps, carrying it through the drying steps and thencethrough the waxing step;

Fig. 2 is a central sectional view of the wax applying pot and waxingapparatus. In-this embodiment the wire passes vertically through thewaxing pot;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the waxing pot, certain parts being shownis section, the view being taken substantially on lines 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. -iis a view of a differentembodiment of waxing pot wherein only twoatomizing jets are provided instead of the four which are shown in thepreceding Figs. 2 and 3. Also in this form of waxing'pot the wire isadapted to traverse through the pot in a horizontal direction instead oiin a vertical directionr Fig. 5 is a detail view of one of the leatherwashers which are used for the inlet and outlet orifices no of thewaxing pot and this figure also shows the retaining means for thewasher;

Fig. 6 is a modified form of Waxing pot adapted for waxing wire andtraversing it horizontally through the pot and wherein any four jets maybe employed instead of the two jets shown in Fi 4; and

Fig. v amore complete view of the apparatus which i's capable ofcarrying out'the method and shows in further detail the various drivingmeans, pay-out and take-up reels, etc.

Referring first to Figs. 1 and 7, the part designated 10 in Fig. 7comprises the 'payout reel. This reel has wound upon it the insulatedwire after it has been braided and impregnated if 11 desig-' so as tothoroughly dry the wire traversing there through. Adjacent the top ofthe drying tower the wire 11 passes over aflanged pulley 12. Afterpassing over this flanged pulley the wire llagain is directeddownwardlyto a painting apparatus generally designated 13. This painting apparatusis provided with an inlet orifice 14v to permit the wire 11 to enter thepaint pot and with- 'in the paint pot the wire 11 passes down below thesurface of the paint and over a-free running pulley 15 which isindicated in dotted lines in Fig; 7. After passing over. the pulley thewire which has then received one coat of, paint passes upwardly out ofthe paint pot 13 and is drawn past a wiping nipple 16. The wire emergingfrom this wiping nipple 16 has the first coat of color applied'theretoand this wire will be designated 11 signifying that it has been coloredwith one coat of paint. Wire 11a again traverses upwardly into thedrying tower where the coat of paintis thoroughly dried and in the upperpart of the drying tower, wire 11a passes over a second pulley 12athereafter returns downwardly again and enters the paint pot a secondtime. The wire enters through a similar aperture and passes over asimilar pulley as that previously described.

111) designates the wire which has left the paint pot after it hasreceived a second coat of paint.

It will be appreciated that any number of coats may be applied. In somecases one coating will be sufi'icient, in which case one traverse of thewire through the paint pot will be omitted. In other cases mo're thantwo coats may be'desirable, in which case additional traverses of thewire through the paint pot may be made. The wire 11b passes upwardlyover a pulley 12b in the drying tower, being dried as before andthereafter this wire 11b again passes downwardly over a drying sheave orpulley 18 adjacent the lower part of the drying tower. After passingover this drying sheave, wire 11b again passes upwardly and over afourth pulley 12c atthe top of the drying tower. From 12c the paintedand nowthoroughly dried wire again passes downwardly over a capstanwheel 19. The wire leaving the capstan wheel will be designated 11c andsuch wire passes downwardly through the waxing pot generally designated20 and out at the bottom over an idler pulley 21 (see Fig. '7), thenceupwardly over another idler pulley 22 and finally downwardly to atake-up reel 23. The takeup reel and the capstan wheel are driven by anysuitable driving mechanism from a main driv ing shaft 24 as indicated onFig. 7.

The waxing pet will now be more fully described with reference to Figs.2 and 3. The waxing pct 20 comprises a tank of any suitable constructionadapted to contain a quantity of molten wax or paraffin 25. Formaintaining the parafiin in heated and molten condition suitableelectrical heating devices 26 may be provided. The bot tom of the tank20 is provided with a stand pipe 27 which extends up above the level ofthe top of the paraffin in-jthe bath and at its top this stand pipe isprovided with an apertured leather washer 28. The purpose of the washeris to partially close up the aperture in the stand pipe and preventexcessive escape of the paraflin vapors from the waxing pot. Theparafiin pot at the top isprovided with a suitable cover 29 and thiscover is provided with an inlet orifice for the entering wire, theorifice being partially closed. by an apertured leather washer 28.

Fig. 5 shows in more detail one of the leather washers 28 secured inposition by a springclamped retainer 30. It will be understood that theleather washers 28 are removable so as to be replaced with other leatherwashers having different sized apertures whenv different sized wires areto be coated. In Fig. 2, 110' indicates the wire which traversesvertically through the waxing pot. v

For applying the wax to the wire there are provided within the waxingpot a number of stand pipes 31. These stand-pipes extend upwardlysubstantially to the point indicated and adjacent the upper ends of thestandpipes are atomizing nozzles generally designated 32. Air underpressure is admitted to the atomizing nozzles 32, the air being suppliedby means of pipes 33 and the volume of air being adapted to be regulatedby needle valves generally designated 34. When the waxing pot is inoperation the blast of air which is directed to the atomizing nozzlesdraws up a quantity of molten paraffin from the bath 25 through thestand pipes 31. In the atomizing nozzles thismolten paraffin is brokenup into the form of a fine mist of molten paraffin and such mist isimpinged by the jets upon the wire which traverses through the waxingpot. As shown in Fig. 3 there are four atomizing nozzles 32 so that thewire is acted upon by sprays of paraffin mist which impinge upon thewire in four directions, In this way the thin and uniform coating of waxis applied to the wire and excessive quantities of wax are preventedfrom being applied to the wire. Furthermore the arrangement is such thatthe wire a't-no time comes in contact with the molten paraffin in thebath nor is it subjected to excessive heat from the bath. In this waytheundesired blending and.

merging of the wax of the underlying material is prevented.

Fig. 4 shows a slightly different embodiment adapted for coating a wirewhen the wire is traversed horizontally through the pot. In this figureonly two atomizing jets'32 are provided.

In some cases where wire is traversed through the pot in a horizontaldirection, it may be de sirable to spray it from more than two sides. Insuch cases the arrangement shown in Fig. 6 may be provided. Here theparafiin pot 20a is of substantially hexagonal configuration to providefor the disposing of the atomizing jets 32 in the angular relationshown. This arrangement permits spraying the wire in more directionsthan two upon, a horizontal traverse of the wire through the waxing pot.

It will be appreciated that any numberof atomizing jets may be provided,but in practice four lll wax-like material and away from the heat ofsaid molten material, said method including effecting the coloring step,the drying step and the wax-coating step on the same wire while thelatter is continuously advanced.

A 10. A method of coloring and super-coating an insulated wire,comprising continuously advancing the wire, applying to said advancingwire a coating of coloring material susceptible of having its coloringeffect impaired by blending or "merging with previously or subsequentlyapplied coating or impregnating material, and thereafter applying to thesame continuously advancing wire molten coating material to provide asuper-coating on the color coating while preventing blending ormerging'of the latter, by maintaining the colorcoated wire free ofexcess heated molten coating material and out of the zone of heat ofsaid material when the said material is applied, so as to avoidimpairing the coloring effect of the color coating by blending ormerging of the latter with the said super-coating material or othermaterial on the wire.

11. A method of coloring and coating'an insulated wire, comprisingcoating the wire with coloring material susceptible of vhaving itscoloring effect impaired by blending or merging with previously orsubsequently applied coating or impregnating material, and thereaftercoating the Wire withwax-like material and avoiding blending or mergingof. the coloring material on the wire and impairment of the coloringeffect thereof, by bringing the wire into contact with substantiallyonly the amount of molten wax-like material required for the coating andmaintaining the wire away from the heat of any substantial mass of saidmolten material.

12. The method of applying a super-coating of wax-like material to aninsulated wire having thereon a coating susceptible of being impaired byblending or merging with previously ortsubsequently applied coatingor-impregnating material on juxtaposition with an excess of hot moltenwax-like material at or above the'melting temperature of the latter,which comprises applying a wax-like super-coating to the wire carryingthe coating susceptible of blending or merging with previously orsubsequently applied coating or impregnating material and preventingsuch blending'or merging of the said coating with the wax coating, byapplying the molten wax-like material in the form of a mist, andrestricting the zone of misting application and maintaining the wireaway from the zone of heat of any substantial mass of moltemwax-likematerial, both prior to and immediately following the application ofsaid molten wax-like material in mist form, so as to prevent impairmentof the underlying coating by blending or merging with said wax-likematerial.

NEIL C. LAMONT.

